


some things just make sense

by manzini (writtendlessly)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M, Magnus Bane Deserves Nice Things, POV Outsider, Shopping, Trans Magnus Bane, and alec is gonna give him all of them, it's a lingerie/sex shop, smitten husband alec lightwood-bane, starting with some cute underwear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:07:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22066753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writtendlessly/pseuds/manzini
Summary: Nita's Boutique sees a lot of different, unique customers. But the tall man with tattoos, glaring at the selection of panties, was rather unexpected.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 28
Kudos: 390
Collections: Valid Trans Magnus Fics (With a Focus on Spicy)





	some things just make sense

**Author's Note:**

> It's not a mature fic by any means but Alec IS in a sex shop so, yknow, keep that in mind. I just keep writing Outsider POV I guess. 
> 
> Title is from Paramore's "Still Into You" and it's a bad title but I couldn't think of anything else.

Nita's Boutique is a small shop tucked away on a one-way street in a fairly nice neighborhood in New York City. It's rather unassuming from the outside and most people tend to walk right by it without even noticing it's there. This is partly because of a low marketing budget, but also partly because the myriad of pride flag stickers in the window have the potential for attracting the wrong sort, so the isolation is by design. Nita's is one of those places you have to know about to find, and they've been running for two years without incident because of this fact. 

That is not to say that unsuspecting people don't stumble in sometimes. They've had their fair share of confused tourists, or shocked grandparents, or straight men on the day before Valentine's Day who come in looking for a gift and hightail it out of there when they see the wall of dildos. 

(At this point, it might be important to mention that Nita's Boutique is a lingerie and sex toy shop, with a particularly queer leaning to it's merchandise. It's a small shop, but they manage to fit in a small selection of lingerie in various sizes, some binders, and a truly surprising amount of strap-on attachments.) 

But out of all the customers, even the accidental ones, none have looked quite as suspicious (and frankly, terrifying) as the man who walks on at 2pm on a Tuesday. 

The man is tall, and buff, and he's covered in black leather and tattoos. Big and leather-wearing was actually a fairly common style for their clientele, but this guy was definitely not big enough to be a bear. He looks lost and confused, but determined, as he looks around at all the various items crammed into the small shop. 

A bell chimed when he came in, alerting the staff in the backroom. They come out, a "Welcome to Nita's Boutique" on their lips. And then they meet eyes with the man and promptly lose all confidence. 

The man smiles tentatively and thrusts out a hand in a too-quick motion that has the worker flinching. He cringes but keeps his hand out, as if this was some professional business deal.

"I'm Alec," he says, and his voice is just as low and serious as one would expect. "Nice to meet you... Kris."

The man, _Alec_ , had paused to read the nametag on Kris' chest reading _Kris - They/Them_ and Kris is already bracing themselves for a joke about their pronouns, but it never comes. 

"Hi, I'm Kris," they repeat inanely, and then awkwardly take Alec's hand and shake it. "Can I help you with something?"

Alec looks around the shop again and the bewildered expression comes back on his face, "I think I'll just look around."

"Okay, let me know," Kris shrugs and turns away, but they stay at the check-out counter to watch him. They're not _suspicious_ , exactly, but Alec's tension puts them on edge too. Alec spends the next few minutes wandering around the shop, idly running his fingers over fabric and staring in disbelief at some of their larger vibrators. 

He's not shouting or breaking anything, or harassing them, so Kris starts to relax. They play on their phone a bit, dust off the counter, and when they look back up, Alec is staring down at a table with such a serious, furrowed-brow expression that they can't help but laugh. Alec looks up from where he's glaring at the neat rows of panties laid out and then he laughs too.

"Can you help me?"

Kris comes over to him, immediately starting their spiel about their lingerie that is available in XS to 3XL, in various colors and fabrics. Alec nods, listening attentively, and Kris concludes with, "Is this a gift or for yourself?"

This is the point where a lot of men start to blush, or splutter indignantly, but Alec just shakes his head, "No, for my husband."

"Ah," Kris points to the smaller table next to them, nearly identical but with slightly different designs and a mannequin with a bulge. "You'll probably want that table, then." 

Alec shakes his head again, "No, I— He's not—"

Kris raises their eyebrows.

"He's uh, he's trans," Alec looks nearly pained as he says it, but quickly clarifies. "I don't know if it's okay to tell you that but I just, I don't need—"

"It's fine," Kris reassures. Alec shuts up and Kris tries to smile encouragingly, even if they were never good at this sort of thing. "I don't know him and we value confidentiality here." 

Alec looks marginally less stressed, so Kris continues with their questions, "What are you looking for? Specific colors? Do you know what fabric he likes?"

Alec stares down at the panties in concentration once again, but he seems overwhelmed with the options. After a few moments he says, "He looks good in everything but maybe— I like these shiny ones?"

He gestures to a row of silk panties with contrasting lace trim. Kris tells him about the fabric and what people have said in their reviews and Alec nods, seemingly satisfied.

"Okay, what about the color?"

"He usually wears a lot of darker colors but lately he's been wearing gold or white," Alec explains. Kris can tell he gets more comfortable when the attention is off him and onto his husband. Alec fishes out his cellphone from his pocket and lights up the screen, showing his lock screen photo. "His skin color is really beautiful so he honestly looks good in any color, see?"

Kris looks at the photo of the two of them, their faces pressed together and both of them grinning, squinting slightly against the sun in their eyes. They're both dressed in black, but his husband has a more regal-looking coat compared to Alec's simple leather jacket. His husband also has smokey makeup with green accents, and some blond streaks in his mohawk. They make a gorgeous couple, and Kris keeps looking at the picture with a mix of awe and jealousy. 

Alec laughs, "I know, right? Look at him. That's my husband, Magnus."

He doesn't say anymore, but he honestly doesn't need to. Magnus could wear assless chaps and a Hawaiian shirt and make it look good. No wonder Alec couldn't decide.

"Maybe just pick some colors you like or you know he likes?" Kris suggests. "Start simple, maybe just black and white."

Alec nods but doesn't put his phone away. Instead he smiles down at it for a second before looking back up to answer, "That sounds good."

"Okay, last question is size," Kris says and Alec frowns. "What size is he?"

"I... don't know?" Alec says it like he's unsure if he knows or not. "He normally just co— uh, orders his clothes online. And he's shorter than me, so we can't share anyway."

"Is he about the same build as you?"

"Sort of? I'm taller but he's more broad, I think. His waist is pretty small, though he does have abs, but then his thighs and quads are big. His biceps are _way_ bigger than mi—"

Alec cuts himself off when he realizes he's rambling. Kris, to their credit, just looks at him with a sort of exasperated fondness that they didn't expect to feel so soon for a stranger. They watch Alec unlock his phone and open the pictures app.

"Maybe I can show you? And you can figure it out? You're the expert."

Kris wants to tell him that they're really _not_ an expert, and are just working here between classes because it's an accepting store and pays more than minimum wage. But Alec honestly looks like he might explode if he doesn't get to share at least _some_ pictures of his husband, so they agree. There's no other customers anyway, and their co-worker won't show up for another hour. So why not? Look at some pictures of a handsome couple, help this clueless guy out, and end the day with a story about the biker-gang emo-kid giant who turned out to be the world's most smitten husband. 

An hour later, when Joda shows up, and Kris is stuck in the middle of the third story about Magnus' kindness and humility, they begin to wonder if the potential sale was worth it.

 _Another_ hour later, when Alec walks out of the store with five pairs of panties, two dildos, a pack of condoms _and_ a bottle of warming lube, Kris realizes it was _absolutely_ worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> Much love to the Magnus discord for talking about this topic with me (more or less, it was mostly TWI!Malec) a few weeks ago!!


End file.
